Enthusiasm is important and very useful, including in the case when it comes to science.
That fans, enthusiasts have made a truly outstanding contribution to the study of history, because some of the finds made them priceless.
1. Jain temple
When you search for the historic values of an Indian teacher came across an old building in the woods. Mr. Rajaguru, who was an avid lover of archaeology, I realized that it was an ancient temple. Although the temple was destroyed and looted, it was a great historical value because it survived several stone sculptures and wall carvings of the 9th century. Located in a tributary of the river Pambar Jain temple was richly decorated with images of marine life such as fish and crabs, perhaps in honor of the once existing in the area fishing community. A short distance from the ruins of the temple are columns, representing the two bowing people.
2. Nugget Ballarat
Novice prospector’s search in the Australian Ballarat region found a record-sized nugget. Although gold in the area found before, nothing like this “monster” is never found. The weight of the nugget was 5.5 kg and it was estimated at more than $ 300 000. The previous record was 3.66 kg.
3. Priceless artifacts of the Roman era
When Feinstein Ran and ofer Ranaan explored the shipwreck off the coast of Israel, they found the sculpture on the seabed. They initially did not attach much importance and continued to explore the ship, which sank near the ancient port of Caesarea. Although they found a number of sculptures at the bottom, a couple of enthusiasts did not know that they found a piece of submerged Roman history. It was the biggest “catch” for the last thirty years: lamps and amphorae, bronze statues, stuffed animals, and anchors, thousands of coins minted with the profiles of Roman emperors Constantine and Licinius. The priceless objects date from different epochs: some belong to the fourth century of our era, while others were made in the first and second centuries. Experts believe that the ship sank because of the storm 1700 years ago.
4. The dinosaur embryos
The Amateur archaeologist and a chemist by profession, Timothy Huang stumbled upon something incredible in the Chinese province of Yunnan. The dinosaur nest contained more than 200 fossilized eggs with embryos at different stages of development. Prior to this, scientists could not even dream of to track different stages of development of the dinosaur (in this case, lufengosaurus) inside the egg. The scientist focused on the study of the hips of the dinosaurs and learned two surprising facts. Their femoral bones were very porous inside and grew much faster than that of any other embryo of a mammal or bird today. Second, the femoral bones were thickened at the expense of muscle. This means that tiny dinosaurs not only grew rapidly, but also actively worked legs… the inside of the egg. The age of the eggs dates back to 199,6 – of 175.6 million years, making them the oldest embryos ever discovered.
5. Tunnels of slaves
In Italy at the Villa of the Roman Emperor Hadrian discovered an unexpected discovery – an extensive network of underground tunnels. Most of them were already known from ancient architectural plans, but the researchers suspected that beneath the earth lies much more than they found.
So they turned for help to the archaeologists-Amateurs, who were able to unearth a number of previously unknown underground tunnel, which most likely has helped thousands of servants, slaves and merchants to maintain the continuous functioning of life at the Villa. But these tunnels besides the fact that was not noted on the plans, in fact led from the house to an underground road. Hadrian, who ruled from 117 ad to 138 ad, could use them for secret meetings.
6. Ancient Roman hairstyles
The Amateur archaeologist and a professional the Barber found a unique way to blend his two professions. Janet Stephens has recreated a Roman hairstyle, which thousands of years ago were a vestal. A vestal (priestess of the goddess Vesta) were six of the most important women in Rome and their curls symbolized chastity. Over time, their hairstyles were lost for centuries. Only two have survived the bust of the vestal virgins, on which it is enough to consider the hairstyle and studied Stevens. The hair of the vestal virgins were divided into six separate beams, two of them were wrapped around a person and four others were interwoven braids. Then from the first two strands were interwoven seventh pigtail, which was tied at the nape.
7. The Monastery Lindisfarne
One of the most ancient monasteries built in England, there is not the slightest mention of where he actually stood. It is only known was that it was built in 635 ad, and most likely in the vicinity of the later monastery of the middle ages. But to find the remains of this monastery were able to detect only random stranger who found a gravestone with the date of the 7th century on the island of Lindisfarne.
8. The greatest treasure in Denmark
When Amateur archaeologists discovered seven bracelets in the field, this event in itself was remarkable for Denmark. Bracelets, six of which were gold and one silver, date back to about 900 a year. The weight of the gold pulled about 900 grams, what was the largest hoard of Viking age found in Denmark. They were in the field, is unknown, but perhaps they were part of a burial ritual or simply hidden personal trophies.
9. The Gold Of The Reichsbank
Coins of world war II with a total cost of $ 65 000 were found buried under a tree. Most likely, these gold coins are minted by the Central Bank of Germany, since they were clearly visible swastika and the word “Reichsbank Berlin 224”. However, interestingly, coins were basically a strange mixture of French, Belgian, Italian and Austro-Hungarian currency from 1831 to 1910. Experts believe that the money likely was part of the gold reserves of the Bank and was stolen by someone.
10. Ithaca
Self-styled British archaeologist believes he has found a Ithaca is the island where was born the legendary hero Odysseus from Homer’s poem “Odyssey”. Robert Bittleston used field excavations and satellite images search for this place in Kefalonia (Western Greece). Bittleston says that the place described in the poem corresponds to the geological description of the modern Peninsula of Kefalonia, is known as Paliki. The archaeologist suggests that he was an island and the only time the earthquake had stopped a channel that separated Ithaca from Kefalonia.
